Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
|
|
|
Nov 16, 2014 - 09:57pm PT
|
Sketch, you know damn well that article is pretty spot-on. And you aren't a Republican (in the contemporary, retarded sense of the word), either. You are Conservative.
And today's GOP only barely maintains a few shreds of principled conservatism. You'd be happy as hell (like many Americans) to see today's GOP die a mouldering death, and come back as a Party that is truly fiscally conservative, allows individuals to make their own choices about their lives, and is more concerned about the myriad of domestic issues rather than jumping beyond our own borders.
Should a Party like that ever come forward, and world political history will be made. Until then, you're stuck defending a Party that is only about 15% of what you truly believe.
|
|
dirtbag
climber
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Nov 17, 2014 - 07:50am PT
|
Well whaddya know, not all government programs are abject failures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/opinion/paul-krugman-when-government-succeeds.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0
The great American Ebola freakout of 2014 seems to be over. The disease is still ravaging Africa, and as with any epidemic, there’s always a risk of a renewed outbreak. But there haven’t been any new U.S. cases for a while, and popular anxiety is fading fast.
Before we move on, however, let’s try to learn something from the panic.
When the freakout was at its peak, Ebola wasn’t just a disease — it was a political metaphor. It was, specifically, held up by America’s right wing as a symbol of government failure. The usual suspects claimed that the Obama administration was falling down on the job, but more than that, they insisted that conventional policy was incapable of dealing with the situation. Leading Republicans suggested ignoring everything we know about disease control and resorting to extreme measures like travel bans, while mocking claims that health officials knew what they were doing.
Guess what: Those officials actually did know what they were doing. The real lesson of the Ebola story is that sometimes public policy is succeeding even while partisans are screaming about failure. And it’s not the only recent story along those lines.
Here’s another: Remember Solyndra? It was a renewable-energy firm that borrowed money using Department of Energy guarantees, then went bust, costing the Treasury $528 million. And conservatives have pounded on that loss relentlessly, turning it into a symbol of what they claim is rampant crony capitalism and a huge waste of taxpayer money.
Defenders of the energy program tried in vain to point out that anyone who makes a lot of investments, whether it’s the government or a private venture capitalist, is going to see some of those investments go bad. For example, Warren Buffett is an investing legend, with good reason — but even he has had his share of lemons, like the $873 million loss he announced earlier this year on his investment in a Texas energy company. Yes, that’s half again as big as the federal loss on Solyndra.
The question is not whether the Department of Energy has made some bad loans — if it hasn’t, it’s not taking enough risks. It’s whether it has a pattern of bad loans. And the answer, it turns out, is no. Last week the department revealed that the program that included Solyndra is, in fact, on track to return profits of $5 billion or more.
Then there’s health reform. As usual, much of the national dialogue over the Affordable Care Act is being dominated by fake scandals drummed up by the enemies of reform. But if you look at the actual results so far, they’re remarkably good. The number of Americans without health insurance has dropped sharply, with around 10 million of the previously uninsured now covered; the program’s costs remain below expectations, with average premium rises for next year well below historical rates of increase; and a new Gallup survey finds that the newly insured are very satisfied with their coverage. By any normal standards, this is a dramatic example of policy success, verging on policy triumph.
One last item: Remember all the mockery of Obama administration assertions that budget deficits, which soared during the financial crisis, would come down as the economy recovered? Surely the exploding costs of Obamacare, combined with a stimulus program that would become a perpetual boondoggle, would lead to vast amounts of red ink, right? Well, no — the deficit has indeed come down rapidly, and as a share of G.D.P. it’s back down to pre-crisis levels.
The moral of these stories is not that the government is always right and always succeeds. Of course there are bad decisions and bad programs. But modern American political discourse is dominated by cheap cynicism about public policy, a free-floating contempt for any and all efforts to improve our lives. And this cheap cynicism is completely unjustified. It’s true that government-hating politicians can sometimes turn their predictions of failure into self-fulfilling prophecies, but when leaders want to make government work, they can.
And let’s be clear: The government policies we’re talking about here are hugely important. We need serious public health policy, not fear-mongering, to contain infectious disease. We need government action to promote renewable energy and fight climate change. Government programs are the only realistic answer for tens of millions of Americans who would otherwise be denied essential health care.
Conservatives want you to believe that while the goals of public programs on health, energy and more may be laudable, experience shows that such programs are doomed to failure. Don’t believe them. Yes, sometimes government officials, being human, get things wrong. But we’re actually surrounded by examples of government success, which they don’t want you to notice.
|
|
k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 08:50am PT
|
Nice dodge, assh0le.
You frequently call me a coward, yet you run away like a little pussy when asked simply questions.
Hmmm, this reminds me of somebody who frequents this forum, makes bogus claims, then runs away when asked to explain themselves.
The person I'm thinking of quickly turns to name-calling when pressured, in an attempt to deflect the responsibility of having to answer for themselves.
Remind you of anybody Sketch? It should, just hold up a mirror.
|
|
bookworm
Social climber
Falls Church, VA
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 08:55am PT
|
“[T]here’s no denying that many blacks share the same anxieties as many whites about the wave of illegal immigration flooding our Southern border—a sense that what’s happening now is fundamentally different from what has gone on before.”
”Not all these fears are irrational”.
“The number of immigrants added to the labor force every year is of a magnitude not seen in this country for over a century,”...“If this huge influx of mostly low-skill workers provides some benefits to the economy as a whole—especially by keeping our workforce young, in contrast to an increasingly geriatric Europe and Japan—it also threatens to depress further the wages of blue-collar Americans and put strains on an already overburdened safety net.”
who's the right-wing hater and bigot who had the "audacity" to write such bile?
that would be barry
hmmm...was he lying then or is he lying now? i guess with a congenital liar both are true
|
|
Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 09:15am PT
|
What are the republicacks for again?
[Click to View YouTube Video]
It may come out that this years elections turn out to have been the failure of the republican party at its base.
It's base is not cohesive in any way...
It's like we're watching the republican party succumb to the very thing that the republican party being cut down by the very thing that they themselves want more...
|
|
WBraun
climber
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 09:18am PT
|
You Psycho politard loons are the ones destroying mankind and the planet.
All of you Psycho politarded loons .....
|
|
Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 09:41am PT
|
WBraun - Oh, troll on wise man, so are the politards
|
|
k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 01:03pm PT
|
You're full of sh#t.
Sketch, do you plan to explain why this might be true, or are we to just take your word at it's value?
Currently, your word has little value so perhaps the latter is best.
|
|
apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 04:41pm PT
|
"Do you think this policy will lead to significant repercussions?"
You mean aside from the current economic expansion & upswing?
What the hell else do you want?
|
|
Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 04:58pm PT
|
Moosedrool has an idea...
Bernie Sanders for President!
How about...? Sanders / Warren 2016!
|
|
WBraun
climber
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 05:02pm PT
|
You will get the witch Hitlery or the loon Jeb Bush.
It makes no difference since they all work for the same criminals.
You people are certified loons ......
|
|
crankster
Trad climber
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 05:42pm PT
|
Yes, his planet was momentarily in an orbit that allowed a transmission to Earth.
|
|
pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 06:16pm PT
|
loons that need some poon!
|
|
Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
|
|
|
Nov 17, 2014 - 06:29pm PT
|
You will get the witch Hitlery or the loon Jeb Bush.
It makes no difference since they all work for the same criminals.
Werner makes an excellent point. It's also why you won't see a Sanders/Warren ticket.
|
|
Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
|
|
|
Nov 18, 2014 - 05:45am PT
|
No, jingy, the Repubs are not winners. They are realists. They represent the corporate faction that knows that capitalism doesn't work in the long run. Thus, they are trying to steal everything they can before the house of cards collapse. The Democrats represent the more optimistic faction of the corporate oligarchy. They think that by throwing the people a few scraps from the table now and then that they can keep the system working and keep the money rolling in.
|
|
Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
|
|
|
Nov 18, 2014 - 06:50am PT
|
http://www.businessinsider.com/nine-great-things-about-california-2013-4?op=1
http://www.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2011/08/31/51-reasons-california-is-americas-best-state
I've heard that California got rid of the problem that was holding us back....
We got rid of the republican...
How is it that Jerry Brown was able to turn around the state so quickly?
Maybe he controls everyone in the media in California?
Maybe he strong-armed the California media into reporting stories that were not true?
The facts are being skewed about California to make it look better than it actually is
It's all an illusion (AKA-WB)
Gary - blah, blah, blah... We can make the case that either all people are realists, or they are blowhards who are self interested.
Where that places me in this discussion means nothing...
Molt your labels
[Click to View YouTube Video]
Republicans are empty as the snake skin...
Just remember...
Goerge Bush Sr. and Jimmy Carter have one thing in common....
Bad one term presidencies.
|
|
TGT
Social climber
So Cal
|
|
|
Nov 18, 2014 - 09:50am PT
|
Barry's been in bed with the big insurers since day one!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/us/politics/health-law-turns-obama-and-insurers-into-allies.html?_r=0
“Insurers and the government have developed a symbiotic relationship, nurtured by tens of billions of dollars that flow from the federal Treasury to insurers each year,” said Michael F. Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.
So much so, in fact, that insurers may soon be on a collision course with the Republican majority in the new Congress. Insurers, often aligned with Republicans in the past, have built their business plans around the law and will strenuously resist Republican efforts to dismantle it. Since Mr. Obama signed the law, share prices for four of the major insurance companies — Aetna, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealth — have more than doubled, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has increased about 70 percent.
“These companies all look at government programs as growth markets,” said Michael J. Tuffin, a former executive vice president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the main lobby for the industry. “There will be nearly $2 trillion of subsidized coverage through insurance exchanges and Medicaid over the next 10 years. These are pragmatic companies. They will follow the customer.”
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Agreed. But not as much as I'd like to have this same mindless conservative enthusiasm working mindlessly for the planet instead of profit.
Let us know!